Good Friday

St. Paul's UMC Colorado Springs

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Good Friday

March 29, 2024 • Rev. David Petty • John 18:12—19:42

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Some days are just lousy and that doesn’t even begin to cover it. The first recorded use of "guode friday” was in the South English Legendary, a text from 1290. Calling a day “good” was a way to denote a time of holy observance. What if even our lousiest days could be experienced as a holy observance of the reality that this IS life? Perhaps the “good news” in the midst of devastation is that God is buried with us in our deepest pain, wrapping us, holding us until we can move through that birth canal once again into renewed life.

A Good Enough Faith for a Good Enough Life

March 31, 2024 • Rev. David Petty, Pastor Donnie Sturgill, Sanctuary Choir • Mark 16:1–8

Easter is tricky when it comes to faith. We come for the happy ending–the “and then they lived happily ever after.” The resurrection story proclaims hope over despair and life over death, yet we know that life continued, and continues for us, as a story of spiking heartbreak moments that are not forever fixed. The nature of being created for love is that we will always hunger for more, that there is never enough life and love to satisfy. And endings are often too soon. But perhaps a good enough faith is one that moves through the chronic nature of being incurably human with an eye for resurrection moments that assure us that this good enough life is worthy of our amazement. I invite you imagine in this silence the deep seed and shoot that is growing within you, yearning for light and life.

We are Fragile

March 17, 2024 • Pastor Donnie Sturgill, Rev. David Petty, CLM Twinkle Gordon • John 12:1–8

The story of Jesus includes many moments around tables, as this was part of his ritual of relationship even to the last. In this fifth week of the Lent season, we will hear a story of love and devotion from the disciple Mary, directed at Jesus at the table. As we will see, Jesus tries to prepare his beloved companions for his death. Talk of death is like a gut-punch to many of us; we would rather believe we and our loved ones are invincible, are able to will ourselves into being strong. We all know that isn’t always how the story goes. We are fragile. Our lives, like the plants in the gardens we tend, are susceptible to elemental dangers and a life-cycle of letting go in order to live.

Palm Sunday

March 24, 2024 • Pastor Donnie Sturgill, Sanctuary Choir • Luke 4:1–13

We stand at the precipice of Lent and Holy Week. This day moves from shouting and praising to a time of crying and lament. The drama of the story of Jesus’ last week reads like the book of our lives. Feeling hopeful one moment, we plummet the next as we deal with disappointment, danger, and grief. God’s incarnation on earth was not immune from this roller-coaster we call life. One thing we know, when the going gets rough, the last thing on our minds is climbing the ladder of self-improvement. We just want to survive, to be comforted, to have our pain known and embraced. And so we turn from the isolation of perfection and turn toward deep love. It is never too late to nurture the garden of relationships, for we are all a group project.